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Former champ Whittaker accepts Khamzat’s call out: “Let’s do it!”
Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev. Photo USA Today Sports and Stefan Romare
Top ranked UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev recently made a very polite case for fighting the No. 2 ranked, former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker.
“He’s got no opponent. Paulo Costa ran away after talking that much about me and Robert. So, I will fight Whittaker. I want this fight although I like him as a human being. He is a solid guy, doesn’t talk trash, doesn’t cross any lines. We are going to have fun at the press conference and fight each other,” Chimaev told Red Corner.
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Robert Whittaker: “He’d be a hard fight”
When Robert Whittaker heard about the call out, he had no problems facing the undefeated Chimaev.
“Oh yeah, cool – let’s do it,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “Whatever. If it’s a fight that gets presented to me, then it is what it is. Yeah, I think it’d be a good fight. I think he’d be a hard fight. I think he’s a phenomenal fighter. I think he has a lot of strengths.”
“I think I have a lot of strengths. I think I’m a hard fighter for him, just the same – and I’m quite good with my hands, can stuff a lot of takedowns. I’m hard to hold down. I’m squirmy, you see. Yeah, it’ll be an interesting fight. That’ll be a showstopper, for sure. I’m sure it’ll get a lot of people interested and excited.”
However, the former middleweight champion sees just one reason that the fight against the No. 3 ranked welterweight makes sense.
“The reason why it would be a fight that’s worth making is because he’s riding the hype train, and because UFC want to bring this guy, who’s the boogeyman to a lot of guys, up in the rankings,” Whittaker said.
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